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Inspector: Llandeilo market site plans ‘unproved

AN APPEAL against Carmarthenshire county council’s refusal to grant planning permission for the site of Llandeilo’s old provisions market has been rejected.

The Planning Inspectorate for Wales was asked to reexamine the council’s decision by the applicant, housing developer Grwp Gwalia, but ruled that the authority’s refusal of the “woefully bland” plans was correct.

Grwp Gwalia had claimed that their scheme would see the renovation of the Grade II listed provisions market alongside the creation of 13 new homes on the site.

However, the inspectorate dismissed the appeal, stating that rather than preserving the 175-year-old market, the proposals were more likely to “jeopardise its long-term future”.

Inspector Robert Gardener questioned the viability of the Grwp Gwalia scheme, which offered no concrete plans for the future use of the building.

In his report, Mr Gardener stated that “the future viability of the listed building is reliant on it being put to an appropriate use. “A number of possible options have been put forward to show how they might be accommodated but none is proposed at this stage.

They remain no more than possibilities.

“In the absence of a knownuser, the proposal is felt to be speculative and unproven and does not justify the harm those works might cause.”

Mr Gardener also questioned the proposed parking provisions and the calculations used by the developer to determine the number of spaces required – one each for the 13 homes and either three, five or eight spaces – depending on the calculation – for future users of the market building.

The inspector was also scathing of the designs of the “woefully bland” additional buildings proposed for the site.

“The scheme would fail to either preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the Llandeilo Conservation Area and would detract from the setting of the listed building,” he said.

In conclusion, he ruled that the county council had been correct to reject the plans.